For years, Sky News’ royal-beat reporter has been Rhiannon Mills. I’ve never had strong opinions about her in either direction – she’s as close as the royal rota gets to a pure stenographer. She relentlessly repeats whatever Prince William and King Charles’s offices tell her to say, but she doesn’t lavish them with praise. She’s also not insanely anti-Sussex. Mills was the reporter who “accidentally” referred to the Princess of Wales’s 2024 health issues as “precancerous cells” though. And in the middle of a keen profile of William, Mills mentioned that many in the palace think he’s “workshy.” So, all in all, she’s not the best and she’s very far from the worst. Well, Mills is leaving Sky News and… going to work for Buckingham Palace.
The King has hired a leading royal correspondent to become one of his senior media advisers, The Times has learnt. Rhiannon Mills will join the royal household press office as communications secretary to Charles and Camilla after more than a decade of reporting on the royal family for Sky News.
Her partner, Andrew Parsons, already works as a photographer for the Prince and Princess of Wales. Now Mills has been poached to join the royal household, moving away from reporting on the royal family, of which she has sometimes been critical, to help with their PR.
A palace source said that Mills, 46, was “a great fit” to help present the King and Queen’s communications message, on account of her “intelligence, quick thinking, good humour and resilience.”
Mills’s appointment comes amid a backdrop of difficult headlines for the royal family. In October the palace announced that Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the King’s brother, was being stripped of his royal titles and ousted from his Royal Lodge home following further allegations about his friendship with the late paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
I’ve seen a lot of people say that this is yet more evidence of everything Prince Harry has said about the rota and the way the palace and press operate symbiotically. And all of that is true and we’ve known it for many years now. I totally understand this move from the palace – they believe Mills already has a good idea of palace operations and palace communications, and they correctly assume she already has relationships within the rota as well. But what I don’t understand is: how is this a good move for Mills, or any rota reporter? It makes them ALL look like they’re spending their careers auditioning for a palace job. I’ve often called these reporters “stenographers to power,” but it’s even worse than that – they’re already acting as if they’re working on behalf of the palace and the Windsors anyway and that’s how they “report” royal news. How embarrassing for them. (Also: I wonder if Roya Nikkhah is bummed she didn’t get this job.)
Screencaps courtesy of Sky News. Additional photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
